Re: No figurative usage? Not so fast.
by
lostboy
02/12/2008, 12:33 PM
Pasunejen's first post is dead on, and is exactly the reaction I had.
[Quote=Jesse Sheidlower]
The verb to prostitute has a figurative meaning—"to sacrifice or debase for some profit or advantage"—that has been common since the late 16th century, and it seems possible that to pimp out could take on similar tones.
"Seems Possible"? "Could take on"?
I give Sheidlower some slight credit for seeing out the open door from the verb's literal meaning. He failed to notice, though, that the cows have long since gone, disappeared over the hill, and mailed back their change-of-address cards.
Maybe Sheidlower's mistake was to focus only on mainstream journalism? Outside of the "make blingy" sense of Pimp my Ride, figurative use of "pimp out" is nowhere to be found in published articles at the WaPo, NYT, or LAT. Check the reader comments on those papers' sites, though, (especially for news articles on the TV show Kid Nation) and you'll find numerous examples of the "for profit" figurative use.
